Can the circular economy be relevant for rural development? Insights from communities without electricity in South-East Asia

EGU General Assembly 2023Within the rural electrification literature, only a few studies make remarks on the relation between the concept of circular economy and the effects of electricity in these marginalised communities. In contrast, most electrification studies describe the marginalised nature of the rural contexts in the Global South, leaving the dialogue about efficient technologies and economic models typical of CE literature outside their main discussion. The few articles to mention circularity seem to adopt a vision similar to the Global North, reproducing thoughts on the need to implement more efficient technologies, effective policies and financing schemes to promote the "sharing economy", yet under an overwhelming number of difficulties for its implementation [1, 2]. However, there is also a literature critical of CE primarily inside the Global North, which argues that circularity emerges as a theoretically, practically and ideologically questionable notion [3, 4]. These analyses argue that although some initiatives may lead to the decoupling of economic growth from resource extraction, it does not necessarily mean reducing the extraction rate or, for practical use, meeting environmental needs. It is also reasoned that CE can create an inevitable accumulation of individual wealth and exacerbate the informal economy and the precariousness of work [4, 5]. Nevertheless, few reflections on CE and community development emerge from the circumstances of marginalised communities in the global south [6]. Hence, there is not enough evidence to refute or support the idea that the circular economy can meet social and environmental goals compatible with the development needs in these contexts. The aim of this research is to discuss aspects of circularity in the perspective of marginalised communities without electrification in Southeast Asia. Building upon previous analyses of changes in daily activities experienced from introducing renewable solar systems in 2019-2022, we will address how compatible CE notions could be to promote sustainable development in rural communities in The Philippines and Malaysia and the relevance of the raised criticisms to CE. The investigation will be based on the analysis of interviews with members of the community

Single-shot spectra of temporally selected micropulses from a mid-infrared free-electron laser by upconversion

We demonstrate the measurement of single-shot spectra of temporally selected micropulses from a mid-infrared (MIR) free-electron laser (FEL) by upconversion. We achieve the upconversion of FEL pulses at 11 \mu m using externally synchronized Nd:YAG or microchip laser pulses at 1064 nm to produce sum-frequency mixing (SFM) signals at 970 nm, which are detected by a compact CCD spectrometer without an intensifier. Our experimental system is very cost-effective, and allows us to obtain the laser spectra of selected micropulses at any temporal position within a single macropulse from an oscillator-type FEL.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure

Full characterization of few-cycle superradiant pulses generated from a free-electron laser oscillator

The detailed structure of few-cycle superradiant pulses generated from a free-electron laser (FEL) oscillator was experimentally revealed for the first time. As predicted in numerical simulations, the obtained pulse structures have ringing, i.e., a train of subpulses following the main pulse. Owing to the phase retrieval with a combination of linear and nonlinear autocorrelation measurements, the temporal phase was also obtained with the pulse shape, and $\pi$-phase jumps between each pulse were confirmed. This particular pulse shape with $\pi$-phase jumps is a common feature of Burnham-Chiao ringing or superradiance ringing. Using unaveraged FEL simulations, the ringing was found to originate from repeated formation and deformation of microbunches across successive bunch slices. The simulation results imply that there should be superluminal propagation of the FEL pulse due to strong gain modulation along the undulator of the FEL oscillator.Comment: Main: 16 pages, 5 figures, Supplementary material: 10 pages, 10 figures, 1 vide

Record high extraction efficiency of free electron laser oscillator

共振器型自由電子レーザの世界最高変換効率を達成 --長波長赤外での強光子場の実現とアト秒X線源の開発に大きく前進--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-10-13.The highest extraction efficiency (9.4%) of a free electron laser (FEL) oscillator has been achieved at the midinfrared FEL facility of Kyoto University. Because of the interaction between the electron beam and FEL electromagnetic field, a maximum electron energy decrease of 16% was observed. The measured energy decrease was consistent with the measured FEL spectrum. An FEL micropulse energy of ~100 μJ with the expected few-cycle pulse duration at a wavelength of 11 μm was observed. This result is an important milestone for the high-extraction-efficiency FEL oscillator and will contribute to the strong-field physics of atoms and molecules

Study Plans Concerning Monetary Evaluation of Mitigation Measures for the Fukushima Daiichi Accident

10th Eco-Energy and Materials Science and Engineering (EMSES2012)The Fukushima Daiichi accident raises various kinds of social unease in Japan. Especially, unease for radioactive contamination around the Fukushima Daiichi plant is serious. Also, around the other nuclear power plants, local residents would feel unease for a similar accident in the future. Although the government and the electric power companies have already implemented or plan to implement several measures to mitigate such unease, it is difficult to progress their policies effectively because the effect of each measure is not quantitatively clarified. The purpose of our research is to evaluate these effects by analyzing fluctuations in local property values and local residents economic welfare, which are monetary indexes reflecting the social unease, to construct information that is useful to plan an optimal package of mitigation measures in each nuclear power plant site from the viewpoint of cost-benefit analysis. In this paper, we explain the immediate plans of this research and its academic and political contributions

The Particle-Tracking Simulation of a New Photocathode RF Gun in the Free-Electron Laser Facility, KU-FEL

A project is underway that aims to generate attosecond pulses via high-harmonic generation in rare gases, driven by extremely short and highly intense pulses from free-electron-laser oscillators. For this purpose, it has been planned that a new photocathode RF gun, dedicated to high-bunch-charge operation, will be installed at the KU-FEL (Kyoto University Free Electron Laser) oscillator facility. In this study, RF guns with two different structures (1.6-cell and 1.4-cell) were compared, from the perspective of exploring the possibility of introducing bunch-interval modulation, which is important for achieving high extraction efficiency in the FEL oscillator. As a result, it was confirmed that the introduction of bunch-phase modulation would be possible only in the case of the 1.6-cell RF gun. After the structure of the RF gun was decided on, particle-tracking simulations were performed, to study the electron-beam parameters using the 1.6-cell RF gun and 1 nC bunch charge. The results showed that we could obtain the peak current of 1 kA without a large degradation of the other parameters

Chapter 24: Building a Sustainable Photovoltaic Innovation System in Indonesia Through Network Governance Perspective

Part of the Environment & Policy book series (ENPO, volume 61)Photovoltaic (PV) is one of primary renewable energy sources aimed to achieve national electrification ratio in Indonesia. There are two PV electricity generators in Indonesia, centralized PV generators (PLTS) and dispersed PV generators (SHS). Both PLTS and SHS are installed in remote and rural areas by which there are no electricity grids provided by state-owned electricity (PLN). The numbers of 15 PLTS/SHS projects are main cases of this study. All of them are categorized based on the type of project and thus analyzed by qualitative research method. This research attempts to investigate PV projects’ current progress and formulate a solution to solve the emerging problems. This research found that PLTS/ SHS projects face unresolved classical problems over the years, unsustaining PV projects (e.g., short-life infrastructure due to maintenance capability issue). This study proposes regional innovation system (RIS) and sectoral innovation system (SIS) as the Indonesian comprehensive policy strategy to sustain national PV projects. Network Governance (NG) perspective is a lens to capture how actors of academician, business, government, and community (ABGC) interact and collaborate mutually. The conclusion is that RIS and SIS can create a PV market in Indonesia, possibly being implemented through different NG forms

Development of Phonon Dynamics Measurement System by MIR- FEL and Pico-second Laser

FEL2015, Daejeon, Republic of KoreaCoherent control of a lattice vibration in bulk solid (mode-selective phonon excitation: MSPE) is one of the attractive methods in the solid state physics because it becomes a powerful tool for the study of ultrafast lattice dynamics (e.g. electron-phonon interaction and phonon-phonon interaction). Not only for that, MSPE can control electronic, magnetic, and structural phases of materials. In 2013, we have directly demonstrated MSPE of a bulk material with MIR-FEL (KU-FEL) by anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy. For the next step, we are starting a phonon dynamics measurement to investigate the difference of physical property between thermally excited phonon (phonon of equilibrium state) and optically excited phonon (phonon of non-equilibrium state) by time-resolved method in combination with a pico-second VIS laser. By using pico-second laser, we also expect to perform the anti-Stokes hyper-Raman scattering spectroscopy to extend MSPE method to the phonon mode which has Raman inactive . As the first step, we have commissioned the time-resolved phonon measurement system and started measurement on 6H-SiC. In this conference, we will present the outline of measurement system, and experimental results